SUM U-17 Cup: Group B preview

The
Dynamo, Soccer United Marketing, and adidas are hosting the 2010 SUM
U-17 Cup in the Greater Houston Area, with group stage matches at
Centennial Park in Friendswood.

Throughout the tournament, updated information will be available at the SUM Cup homepage.

HoustonDynamo.com is previewing each of the four groups, which include the youth teams from four MLS clubs.

Group B offers to be one of the more intriguing groups of
the tournament. It features last year’s SUM U-17 Cup runner-up, FC Dallas; the
Columbus Crew, whose U-15/16 squad fell a point shy of advancing to the USSF Development
Academy finals; and two teams, the Seattle
Sounders and the Philadelphia Union, who have yet to compete in the USSF Development
Academy league.

Heading into the tournament, FC Dallas looks to be the favorite of the four squads in Group B.
In last year’s SUM U-17 Cup, Dallas
reached the final but fell in a shootout to D.C. United, leaving its players
hungry for more. This past season, the Dallas U-16 and U-18 squads won their
respective divisions and advanced to the USSF
Developmental Academy
playoffs in Greensboro, N.C., with the U-18s finishing sixth
overall.

This weekend’s squad will feature Samuel Coleman, who scored
eight goals in USSF play last year, was the 2009 Oklahoma Gatorade Player of
the Year, and has previously trained with the U.S. U-17 and U-18 national
teams.

One player whose name might look familiar to fans is 14-year-old
Emerson Hyndman, the grandson of FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman. The
youngest player in this year’s tournament, it will be interesting to see how
Hyndman handles himself against the strong youth competition.

Like Dallas, the Columbus Crew are coming off a strong Academy
campaign. Eleven players from the Crew’s U-16 squad will represent Columbus in the SUM U-17
Cup, where they finished a surprising fourth last year.

Chris Davis, who scored nine goals last season and four in
last year’s tournament alone, will be among those looking to improve on last
year’s fourth-place finish. Another key player to watch will be midfielder
William Trapp, an all-USSF selection at the U-16 level this year who has
already committed to the University
of Akron and has
previously trained with the U-15 and U-18 national teams.

The wildcard of this year’s tournament, the Philadelphia Union will play
its first competitive tournament this weekend. Having only joined Major League
Soccer this year, the Union did not already
have an academy program in the USSF Developmental league. That does not mean,
though, that the cupboard is bare in Philadelphia.

Headlining the squad is Alex Shinsky, a crafty forward from York, Pa., who scored for
the U-17 U.S. national team against Malawi
in last year’s U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. The Union
also feature Mike Gonzalez and James McLaughlin, who combined for 11 goals for
FC Delco in league play last season. With two other players, Zach Pfeffer and
Darius Madison, currently in the U-17 residency camp, the upstart Union could be a dark-horse pick to advance deep into the
tournament.

Similar to Philadelphia,
the Seattle Sounders are new to the
academy scene. Seattle
officially became a U.S. Soccer Development Academy program for 2010-11 after
taking the previous membership held by the Washington Premier Football Club.
The bad news for Seattle
is they have not had the opportunity to develop their own players. The good
news for Seattle
is that the Washington Premier Football Club has some strong players that will
be able to step in right away and help.

First and foremost is Dominique Dismuke, a 5-foot-11
forward who scored nine goals in league play last season. Dismuke will rely on
former WPFC teammate Troy Peterson to find him in space and create chances.
Peterson will also be relied upon to find the back of the net after scoring six
goals of his own last season. Look for Seattle
to remain competitive in its first tournament against other MLS academies, but
in this strong a group, they appear unlikely to advance.